How Miraculous are Weight Loss Supplements? Articles | Weight Loss

By: Darren Williger

“One stop cure” is the other name for weight loss supplements which promise magical reduction of weight and near-instant trimming of the body. Is this a myth or can such magic remedies for obesity exist?

Advertisements bombard our senses of diet supplements which can put you back in shape in less time that you ever imagined. Many people who have succumbed to such advertising gimmicks have faced frustration and burnt their fingers (instead of calories!) with little or no alterations to their vital statistics. But all is not bad with diet supplements. There are some aspects of such magic diets, which are indeed commendable.

One of the reasons why these diet supplements have become so popular is because of their easy accessibility. Available with out any prescription, these supplements can be purchased by an and every one who wishes to lost those extra pounds. Some of the manufacturers even get away by claiming that the ingredients are all ‘natural’ products. Unfortunately these claims are not substantiated and are false. Firstly, anything that is ‘natural’ need not always be safe for the body. Moreover, the body quickly gets used to these ‘natural’ ingredients and even if the product had any beneficial effect, it takes no time to disappear also. In stead, if you can use these supplements for a short duration of time and back it up with adequate exercise, you might expect to get better results.

So how can a ‘natural’ plant extract become a health hazard? To begin with, none of these supplements are approved by the FDA. This is due to the lenience of DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act) Act which allows any dietary supplement that has its origin in plant sources to be sold without any approval of FDA or any other similar governmental regulatory agency. The other issue is that there is no regulatory body which puts any mandatory labeling instructions or warnings of side-effects to be incorporated on the outer packaging. This makes any consumer completely unsure of the type of ingredients he or she is ingesting. Surely, a plant in its natural form is expected to be harmless. But who can guarantee the kind of molecular changes that might happen when you take out its extract and put it in a capsule or tablet form? In fact, the truth of the matter is that many of these ingredients are capable of causing a wide range of side effects especially when they interact with other drugs which a consumer might be taking already. This is how a perfectly ‘natural’ ingredient can become a health hazard.

Though FDA does not give its approval for these types of products, it can always withdraw them from the market, if there are any reported cases of it being hazardous to health. Needless to mention, this might be just a bit too late for some one who has already fallen victim to its multiple side effects.

These types of diet supplements will easily attract the attention of some one who is desperate to lose weight and they become the soft targets for the aggressive advertising campaigns which these products do. If you are one of those unfortunate overweight individuals whose health is getting affected negatively by weight issues, taking a prescription diet pill recommended by a doctor would be the way to go. in case you are looking for a quick way to solve your weight problem, you could try these supplements after taking adequate precautions, which include: checking with your doctor whether the ingredients have a chance of reacting negatively with any current medication that you are having; reading the labeling instructions carefully; doing enough research on the ‘natural’ ingredients and confirming their safety, side effects etc. Remember, losing weight can be easy if you take a healthy and balanced diet and back it up with adequate physical activity. This could be the safest option for losing weight.